Forum:Disputing timelines Aperture Science
So I have this problem with the timelines on this page: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Aperture_Science In Portal 2, JUST before you get back on the elevator from "Before 80's" science area back to where Wheatley is boss (Elevator going up to Chapter 8), there's a poster on the wall that says: "CONDEMNED Vitrication Order 06/15/1961 Do not look at, touch, ingest or engage in conversation with any substance beyond this point." So, the "retro" test area was condemned already back in 1961. This has a whole lot of contradictions currently displayed on the page link above, for example: "Caroline (secretary, Johnson's successor; late 1980s - unknown)" She was introduced shortly after you entered the "old area". If the place was condemned in 1961 and the messages were pre-recorded, things don't make sense here. Cave Johnsons disease apparently then also happened much, much earlier. It was also pre-recorded before the area was considered condemned in 1961, much earlier than the 1974 information on the page. So not only the death from mercury was retconned here. On the page: " Aperture Science focuses on recruiting homeless people for testing instead starting in 1976. (Propulsion Gel was released around this time too.)" Apparently this too, was much, much, earlier, perhaps by 20 or even more years. There's more stuff that seems to be disputed because of this poster on the wall. Anyone has any input on this, am I assuming too much or interpreting this poster wrong? I'd definitely like to hear what you have to say about this. Edit: Added more details on the location of the poster. Edit2: If Chell did an experiment as a child on the "Take your daughter to work", which, according to the poster, didn't happen later than 1961, Chell would be in her late 50's if not 60's (Assuming she was asleep for 20 years (Which is now also busted retroactively) instead of "9999999..." on her wiki page). She's looking damn fine for a 58~68 year old. Dare I say, not Human? Response: I found the sign you were referring to, though it wasn't on a door, and all I can say is that, its a texture, and they just threw it on without thinking and not realizing someone who stop and read it. The first section was condemned in 1961, and if you read the awards in the first enrichment center, the company was founded in 1947. The "bring your daughter to work day" room gives no indication of what year it happened, BUT due to the fact that you find it before the fall, it is more than likely AFTER the entire "retro" period was sealed off. Meaning somewhere in the 80's or 90's most likely. Also, the "999999999" part at the beginning is supposed to refer to how many days she was asleep, not years. And lastly, if you even read the Chell page, it says that it is commonly believed that she was born sometime in the 90's and therefor in her 20's in the first Portal. ~~Cfennis6 response to Cfennis6 and all: The texture wasn't a design oversight. if you pay attention to dates in-game you will notice that the game jumps from 50's aperture where the company is rich and Cave is firing lots of good people because he can to 70's aperture where the company is bankrupt leaving no 60's section. Why is there a sudden jump? there is a in-plot and 2 Game Development reason for this. The in-plot reason is revealed by another poster that says the shaft was closed due to cosmic ray-spillation in 1961 and the upper section is implied to have been re-opened and renovated in the 70's (not the lower section cause it is sinking into aperture's waste-water) and latter in 1981-83 the very top 3 spheres and an office of the shaft are renovated because aperture doesn't have enough money maintain the rest. Finally the shaft is closed a second time for unknown reasons when aperture is rebooted to new-aperture. meanwhile the Game development reasons are for one: So that there can be a logical reason why there is still a 50's section that isn't renovated. and Two: because aperture in the 60`s wasn't much different than aperture in the 50`s so they skipped it. To People confused about how old Chell is and when BYDtWD was: Portal 1 took place shortly after the final start up of the Central Ai Core (Ai of GlaDOS supercomputer/Caroline AI) that took place shortly after the Black mesa incident (200x according to Marc Laidlaw) BYDtWD was retconned to be before the final activation and was some time in the 90's or late (the scene was based off of the 90's too, the banner paper used on the BYDTWD banner both become popular and ceased in usage in the 90's) if Chell was there as is implied that would make her 18-22 ish for portal 1 (taking into account her age and appearance was retconned by Lab Rat) and judging by the most obvious sign of age; plant growth we can assume she isn't much older in portal 2 (23-27ish) and not 58-68 years old, why? only vines, moss and mushrooms have grown and only in the top layer of aperture science ,they grow fast. and if we were to believe a later seemingly broken announcement system she was in suspension for 999999 days so its either you believe a broken announcement system or hundreds of vines. Im going for the vines, and NOT just because they outnumber the announcement system.